1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of feeding livestock and in particular in the feeding of poultry raised commercially for human consumption, egg laying, or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the livestock producing industry it is common knowledge that feed is rarely uniform as to grade or ingredients. Numerous reasons account for the lack of uniformity in feed, among which are seasonal factors, differences in grades, ingredients, and supply sources. It is a recognized fact that livestock, like humans, should have a properly balanced diet, which would account for differences in feed ingredients. As the feed is made up of various ingredients, it frequently happens that the livestock prefer the taste of one or more ingredient over the taste of others and will pick out the more tasty ingredients and possibly suffer deficiencies by not eating some of the less tasty, but beneficial ingredients. Also, as the feed ingredients differ, the weight per volume of various feed will differ and a picky animal may consume more or less in weight of feed, particularly if it is more aggressive or faster in its eating habits than that of its mates.
Even in the case of poultry different types have different requirements. Examples of different types of poultry include broilers, breeders, and layers. In the case of broilers, that is poultry raised primarily for consumption of its meat and sold by weight, the conversion of feed to meat would effect significant monetary return for cost of feed. By contrast breeders, that is poultry kept primarily for breeding purposes and not for immediate sale for consumption, do not produce any monetary return for their increase in weight due to being amply fed. In the case of layers, it is known, for example, that eggs laid are as great or better when the feeding of the layers is restricted than when full feeding, that is, all that the layers can eat, is permitted. By way of example, it is noted that large eggs according to commercial grading must weigh 24 ounces per dozen or better and that as the layers age to beyond their peak production the eggs that are then laid are larger and weigh as much as 25 or 251/2 ounces per dozen. The poultry farmer is paid the same amount for such larger eggs produced by older layers as he is paid for the slightly smaller eggs of younger layers and thus does not profit from the added weight of the larger eggs.
As feed does affect egg size and weight, the poultry farmer would profit from savings in feed cost by reducing the feed the older layers are permitted to consume at least to the point that the eggs produced by such older layers are closer to 24 ounces per dozen than 25 ounces per dozen.
Because of the desirability of restricting the amount of feed poultry are permitted to consume, various methods have been tried with an eye to reducing poultry feed consumption. One method of restricting the feeding of poultry is by covering the feed so that the poultry can eat only at given period during each day and not at other periods of the day. This method has not worked out with complete satisfaction as some birds eat faster and/or are more aggressive so that as long as the feed is uncovered some birds confined in the same general area, whether it be a pen or a cage, will consume more feed than others.